Saudi King’s New York Back Surgery Successful, Royal Court Says

Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabian King Abdullah had
“successful surgery” in New York yesterday to remove a blood
clot and adjust a slipped disk, the Saudi Embassy in Washington
said, citing a statement from the Royal Court in Riyadh.

“A blood clot was removed, a slipped disk was adjusted,
and an affected vertebral body was stabilized,” the statement
posted yesterday on the Embassy’s website said. “May God the
Almighty protect the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and grant
him health and a speedy recovery.”

Abdullah arrived in New York on Nov. 23 from Saudi Arabia
for the treatment. A spokeswoman for New York-Presbyterian
Hospital in Manhattan, where the surgery took place, couldn’t be
reached for comment on the report.

The New York surgeons probably removed the herniated disk
and performed a lumbar fusion, said Michael Schafer, chairman of
the department of orthopedic surgery at Northwestern
University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. A lumbar
fusion involves welding two pieces of bone together to stabilize
the vertebrae, he said.

A herniated disk that is pressing on nerves can make it
difficult for patients to walk, Schafer said. In older patients,
the resulting inactivity may cause blood clots, he said.

A surgeon is likely to opt for a minimally invasive micro-procedure that lets patients spend as little as one day
recovering in the hospital, he said.

“Recovery should be the same whether you’re 86 or 26,”
said Schafer, who wasn’t involved in the king’s medical care.
“Once you relieve the pressure, a nerve has the potential to
recover and the pain should dissipate.”

He described the New York hospital as a “well-respected,
high-volume medical center” for this procedure.

Saudi Succession

The 86-year-old monarch’s treatment in the U.S. has raised
the issue of succession in the world’s largest oil exporter.
Abdullah, who has been king since 2005, delegated management of
the country’s affairs to Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz, his
half-brother, during his absence, the state-run Saudi Press
Agency said Nov. 22.

Two other half-brothers -- Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz, the
76-year-old interior minister, and Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz,
the governor of Riyadh -- may be additional candidates for the
throne. Saudi law requires that the monarch be a son or grandson
of the kingdom’s founder, Abdulaziz Al Saud, who died in 1953.

Crown Prince Sultan, who has traveled frequently in the
past year for health care, arrived in Saudi Arabia on Nov. 21
after spending several months in Morocco, SPA said. Sultan, born
in 1928, has been defense minister for almost five decades.

After the Saudi Royal Court issued a statement Nov. 12 that
King Abdullah suffered from a herniated disk and had been
advised by doctors to rest, the monarch appointed a son, Prince
Mutaib, as head of the National Guard and relieved his 77-year-old brother, Prince Badr bin Abdulaziz, of his duties as deputy
head of the National Guard, SPA said. Badr asked to step down
for health reasons, the agency said.